Rebirth
by Nentari
Summary: Set during Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, this is part one in the Avis series. Having been destroyed during the dark times of Vol- er, You-Know-Who, the renowned Colégio Ingarnal, the westernmost wizarding school in Europe, was rebuilt and is
1. A New Beginning

Rebirth  
  
Disclaimer: Everything you recognize or find familiar here belongs to J.K Rowling. Some names and events were taken from Portuguese history and legend and adapted for fictional purpose.  
  
A/N: First of all, I should point out that this is set during Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and is part one in the Avis series. Many thanks to my fellow countryman Sirius White for his wonderful response to this chapter's first draft, and for encouraging me to post this. I also want to thank Maya for convincing me put post this on ff.net, for my friend Vanessa Bettencourt for inspiration, and everybody at UAL.  
  
Chapter 1: A New Beginning  
  
To a Muggle, the Cegonha 1 would seem to be only a stork flying above their heads. To a wizard, however, it was clear that it was a gigantic, bird- shaped craft, charmed to look smaller and lifelike. The craft could fit over two hundred passengers at a time, though in its current journey only thirty-two people were being carried. Two of them (an old witch and a blond- haired wizard) were adults, and stood out quite remarkably. The old witch was quite wrinkled, and looked just like a human prune. The wizard, on the other hand, was younger and elegant, in an almost feminine manner, and was reading a book with such concentration as if his life depended on it.  
  
"Found anything familiar, Professor?" the witch asked.  
  
He looked up. "Not yet, no. Did I really do these things?"  
  
"Well," the old witch smiled, "you wrote the thing. If it's there, you must have done it."  
  
Not far away from the two, a tall, olive-skinned girl read a newspaper. She was trying to distract herself from the fact that she would be away from her family for the first time in her life and heading towards a place that, for fifteen years, had been only a mere memory. She only knew Ingarnal from what her mother used to remember from her own school days, but that was before the place was attacked by Dark wizards and forced to close; her mother had to finish her wizarding studies in Beauxbatons.  
  
And now Ingarnal was restored and reopened, and was about to greet the first batch of students in fifteen years - all of them first-years, as it was the school wish that it should start "on a clean slate". Geno didn't like the expression; it made her feel like a guinea pig. She and the others her age were the ones who would have to write on the slate by having to find things on their own (as most of the teachers, obviously, were new to the place as well) and those who followed would only need to read what they had written. It really wasn't fair.  
  
She stared out of the window at the white clouds. No landscape to see, she thought. This is starting to get boring...  
  
People sitting around her were showing signs of that boredom, yawning noisily. A boy with long hair, so tiny that he seemed to be only four years old, curled up in a ball and began mumbling incoherent words in his sleep. When the Cegonha 1 made a violent turn to avoid a real stork, he fell off his seat and hit his head on the wall, waking up with a start. Another boy sneered nastily.  
  
"Are you all right?" asked the old witch who looked like a human prune, helping him to get up.  
  
"Yeah..." he said, almost inaudibly.  
  
"Good. Any second now, we'll reach Ingarnal. I suggest you get ready."  
  
She then returned to her seat next to the blond-haired wizard.  
  
"Are you sure you're okay?" asked a girl with glasses.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bump," he replied, trying to get his hair away from his face.  
  
"Lucky there's nothing inside your head," the sneering boy mumbled.  
  
"What did you say?" Geno asked, but the boy just looked at her contemptuously.  
  
"Ignore him," said the long-haired boy. "He gets a thrill out of other people's pain."  
  
"Do you know him?"  
  
"Yeah, we're cousins."  
  
This surprised Geno. She had never seen two people who looked so different. This boy was incredibly tiny and round, and with his rather ugly face and loads of custard-colored hair, looked amazingly like a Puffskein. The cousin, however, had short dark hair, dark eyes and had average height.  
  
Geno's expression must have been obvious, as he added quickly, "I know, we don't look alike. People get even more surprised when they learn than our dads are twins. I'm a lot like my mother."  
  
"What's your name?" the girl with glasses asked. "We've been in this stupid thing for hours and I still don't know anybody's name."  
  
"Call me Half-Pint," said the boy. His cousin snorted. "He always does that, he seems to find my height funny, for some reason. His name's Aenor, by the way."  
  
"Well, I'm Magda," said the girl. "And you?"  
  
"Geno."  
  
"Cool name. Can I borrow this?" he asked, pointing at the newspaper.  
  
"Sure."  
  
"So," Magda asked, "d'you know anything about the Ingarnal houses?"  
  
"Well, my mum studied there," Geno said. "She was in a house called Goa. I think there's only another house."  
  
"What, just two houses?" Half-Pint was surprised. "My dad went to Hogwarts, and they have four!"  
  
"My parents went to Hierbarubia," said Magda, "and they've got ten houses there. I guess it depends on the school."  
  
"Children, please," said the human prune, "we'll be landing soon. Leave your things here and follow me."  
  
As soon as they got off, everybody looked around in wonderment. They were surrounded by tall mountains, and seemed to have landed near a small lake.  
  
"Well," said the human prune once they got off the Cegonha 1, "we're here."  
  
"Where?" asked Aenor. "I don't see anything."  
  
"Then you should adjust your eyesight," she replied, pointing at the nearest mountain.  
  
It was only then that Geno noticed. The castle was part of the mountain, as if it had been carved in it. You couldn't tell where one ended and the other began. Tall, beautiful towers seemed to have grown from the rock, like fungi on a tree trunk. Sculptures depicting bird-like creatures blended with the work of architecture and nature, and the most bizarre waterfall Geno had ever seen made the water run from an enormous open window towards the lake.  
  
"Are you ready?" the human prune said. "We shall enter in a moment. The Headmistress is waiting, and she is not known to be patient."  
  
And they advanced towards the front doors. The closer they got, the smaller they all felt, as each step seemed to give more power and magnificence to the castle.  
  
So this will be my home for the next seven years, Geno thought, becoming increasingly scared with the idea.  
  
When the giant stone doors opened to let them in, the sound of gasps was immediate.  
  
In front of them was a long corridor, its stone walls adorned with paintings, not of wizards and witches, as to be expected, but of battlefields and caravels.  
  
Geno counted twenty bronze doors on each side as they crossed the corridor; at the very end, an enormous door, also in bronze, stood in front of them, its engravings depicting an exotic scenery. Above this door was a large painting where a frail-looking teenage boy in a suit of armor whispered something to a beautiful raven-haired woman.  
  
The human prune turned and addressed the children.  
  
"Now, students, a few words. I am Professor Sampaio and I shall be your Deputy Headmistress. This," she nodded towards the blond-haired wizard, who was looking open-mouthed at a painting, "is Professor Lockhart. He won't be your teacher, so he's not to be disturbed. We will be sorting you into your Houses. The sorting methods are different in every school, so for those of you whose parents went to Durmstrang, I can assure you that the process here is completely different and will not require physical pain."  
  
A boy sighed with relief. Everybody laughed.  
  
"You will earn or lose points for your House, depending on your behavior. The House with more points will win the House Cup at the end of the year. Also, the top students from each House will get a special prize. Shall we enter?"  
  
If the entrance corridor had made the students gasp, then the great hall just took their breath away. It wasn't as large as the one in Hogwarts, but it certainly wasn't poorer in magnificence. A large, windowless, round room, its walls were decorated with 25 different tapestry panels depicting the ocean; a large caravel traveled from one panel to the next, incessantly. Rosebushes grew upside-down on the ceiling, exhaling a strong, sweet odor; around them flew many golden fairies. On the marble floor stood two tables; the one near the door was minuscule and on top of it was a glass globe, while on the larger one, farther away, sat the teachers.  
  
"Where do we sit?" Geno heard Aenor mumble.  
  
Then a very young woman with long dark hair and dressed in black silk, stood up.  
  
"Welcome," she said with a smile. "I hope you all had a pleasant journey."  
  
Realizing that this had to be the Headmistress, Geno had a difficult time hiding her surprise. This woman looked way too young to be in such a high position.  
  
"Is everything ready, Andromeda?" she asked to Professor Sampaio, who nodded and turned again to the students.  
  
A man in green overalls handed her a roll of parchment.  
  
"Now the sorting is easy. When I call your name, you'll only need to hold the globe. Any question? Very well," she said in reply to their silence, as she glanced at the parchment. "Aleixo, Genoveva!"  
  
Geno's insides froze. I'm first? she thought in terror. She thought people would be called by their first name, not the last! She didn't want to be first! Nervously, and realizing she was the center of attention, she approached the globe. One single thought filled her mind: please God, make them stop staring at me, please, please, oh please...  
  
As she held the globe, a strong light came from it and surrounded her. A feeling of pleasantness invaded her, and she felt like she was flying. She opened her eyes and saw a woman... the raven-haired woman from the portrait, who smiled and whispered in a sweet voice, "Don't be scared... You're one of the precious few... You're one of the chosen..."  
  
Then the light vanished, and she returned to reality. People were clapping. The Headmistress rose, and said, "You belong to the Avis house."  
  
Then she clapped her hands, and a new table appeared.  
  
"You can sit now," she gestured. Feeling self-conscious again, Geno obeyed and headed towards the new table timidly. While she walked, she noticed that, instead of the Muggle clothing she initially had, she was now wearing robes in silver and gold, like the ones the raven-haired woman had.  
  
Professor Sampaio then called, "Aniceto, Ricardo!"  
  
A sallow-looking boy held the globe, and, like Geno, was surrounded by the light emanating from it. When it ended, he was wearing robes in deep blue and turquoise. The Headmistress announced that he belonged to the Goa house, and conjured yet another table for him to sit.  
  
"Arnaut, Joana!" followed, being also sorted to the Goa house. "Bekker, Manuel!" and "Belchior, Demetrio!", the two boys following her, however, were given robes in scarlet and purple, and were sent to a third table, belonging to the Ceuta house.  
  
As other students were being called, Geno couldn't help to notice that nobody else was being sorted into her house. "Fagundes", "Figueiredo", "Garcia", "Gomes", "Isidro", "Lencastre", "Lima"... Every student called by Professor Sampaio seemed to fall on either Goa or Ceuta. Remembering that her mother had mentioned only two houses, Geno got scared. What if there was a mistake? What if she had been sorted into a false house that never existed? Would she be sent home, then? And "Avis"... that was a spell to conjure birds, wasn't it? "Ceuta" and "Goa" were territories related to the old Empire.. why wasn't the third house's name on the same wavelength?  
  
Her thoughts were interrupted when "Petrova, Irina!", a blonde girl looking even more terrified that she had been, was sorted into Avis. Great, I'm not alone, then. She smiled at the girl when she sat at their table, which seemed to calm her a little.  
  
Other students continued to be called. Among them was Magda, who was sorted into Goa.  
  
With the sound of "Thessaly, Aenor!", Half-Pint's sneering cousin approached the globe. Geno let out a gasp of unpleasant shock as he ended up wearing gold and silver and sitting next to her.  
  
Then, "Thessaly, Hylas!" was called, and Half-Pint stepped in. He winked at Geno and held the globe, reappearing instants later with the Avis colors.  
  
"Hey, we're in the same house!" he said loudly as he sat down.  
  
"Shh!" she whispered when she noticed Professor Sampaio glaring at them. "Yeah, it's great that at least one nice person is here," she added, glancing at Aenor, who pretended not to listen.  
  
After Half-Pint, only four students remained; two of them went to Ceuta, one to Goa, and the final student, "Zagalo, Dulce!", a girl with short auburn hair, became the fifth and final Avis.  
  
"Well," said the Headmistress, sitting down, "now that we're all settled, we might as well eat." She clapped again, and the tables filled with food.  
  
Aenor ate quietly, distancing himself from the other four. Irina Petrova, too terrified to speak, eyed the others nervously, as if expecting for permission to join their conversation.  
  
"Do you have to eat so fast?" Geno asked when Half-Pint shoved a plateful of chips inside his mouth.  
  
"I'm a growing boy, I need to eat well!"  
  
Aenor snorted.  
  
"Well, if I'm not growing properly, that's because I'm not eating enough." He then swallowed an amazing amount of mash potato and turned to Dulce. "Sho where d'joo come fhom?"  
  
"Faro," she replied. "Mum and Dad went to Durmstrang, though." Half-Pint almost choked at the sound of this. "They hated the place, which is why they were happy to know Ingarnal was reopening."  
  
"Oh," he said, relieved.  
  
"How about you, Irina?" asked Geno, trying to make the other girl feel at home.  
  
"Vell," she said, reddening, "I came from Ukraine six months ago. Mother and father are... how do you say? Not magic?"  
  
"Muggles," Geno said. "My dad was one too."  
  
After everybody had finished eating, a tall, black woman approached their table, the bracelets covering both her arms rattling noisily.  
  
"Greetings, children. I'm Professor Ventura, and I'm the Head of your House. This means that if you've got any problem, or any doubt, you come to me."  
  
Geno glanced quickly at the other tables, where the other houses were greeted in the same manner.  
  
"Usually, the role of explaining House procedures to first-years belong to a Prefect, but since you won't have one until your fifth year, I shall also be the one to whom the task will be bestowed. Any questions?"  
  
Aenor raised his hand.  
  
"Do I really have to be in the same House as him?" he said, pointing disgustingly at Half-Pint. Boy, he's horrid! Geno thought.  
  
"Yes, Thessaly, you have. Once you're sorted into a House, you'll stay there. Now, any sensible questions? No? Then follow me, please. I shall lead you to your common room."  
  
They got up, and were led through one of the doors in the entrance corridor, up a flight of stairs... and another... and another...  
  
When Geno thought she was going to faint with exhaustion, they reached their destination: a small corridor that was almost empty, except for a large baroque-like mirror with a swan engraved on a corner.  
  
"The password," Professor Ventura told them, "is Lily of the Valley."  
  
"Password for what?" Aenor asked.  
  
"For this," Professor Ventura replied, entering inside the mirror as if it was a door. Seconds later, her head popped out again. "Well, what are you waiting for?"  
  
Silently, they went through the mirror. Irina was so terrified that Dulce had to hold her hand and help her inside.  
  
As soon as Geno crossed it, she stopped paralyzed with delight. Anything she had seen in Ingarnal so far was nothing compared to the Avis common room. It was in every aspect how she imagined a room from Ancient Rome would look like, with walls made of golden marble, mosaic floor, a large, glass-less window with silk drapes, exquisite golden chairs and even a fountain! On their right were two doors, separated by a statue of a beautiful witch, also in golden marble, which seemed to point her wand at the fountain.  
  
"If you don't say the password," Professor Ventura said, "the mirror will not let you go through, so don't forget it. The dormitories are through those doors - boys on the left, girls on the right. I hope you will be on your best behavior tonight, as I'm not far away, and I can sense if you're up to no good. Understood?" and to this, she glanced to the boys, resting her gaze longer on Aenor. "I shall give you further instructions and hand out your timetable at breakfast tomorrow. Goodnight."  
  
And with this, she went through the gray rectangle that was the reverse of the mirror. After a moment's silence, during which they all examined the room (Geno being particularly fascinated with the witch's statue), Dulce brought them back to reality.  
  
"I don't know about you," she said, "but I'm dead tired. Especially after all these stairs." And with this, she opened the room to the girls' dormitories and entered, quickly followed by Irina, who murmured something that sounded like a timid "Good night" in Ukrainian.  
  
"Yeah, me too!" said Half-Pint, in a tone that showed that he still had enough energy to run a mile. "Last one is a rotten egg!" he yelled as he rushed towards the door, hit his head on it, picked himself up, and opened it wide. Aenor rolled his eyes and followed. Half-Pint's voice was then heard shouting, "'Night!"  
  
"Good night, Half-Pint!" Geno replied. Taking a quick glance at the room, she entered the girls' dormitories.  
  
"I'm still scared," she said to herself. "I miss my mum and my brother, and this is completely new and kinda scary. Let's wait to see what tomorrow will bring." 


	2. The First Day

Rebirth  
  
Chapter 2: The First Day  
  
Nowhere. That's where she was. Nowhere at all. It was like the end of the world.  
  
The mist seemed to melt into silver leaves as it touched the bare branches of the trees. It was cold... so cold, and Geno was feeling lost, hungry, and alone. The only sound that could be heard was the voice - a woman's voice calling in desperate agony.  
  
"Help me... please help me!"  
  
"Where are you?" asked Geno. "I can't see you."  
  
"I've been hurt... and they're all dead!"  
  
"Who's dead?" Geno continued, but, apparently, the owner of the voice was unable to hear her.  
  
"They've killed them... and I think I will die soon as well... I'm bleeding... come and help me! Please!"  
  
"Where are you?"  
  
"Help me..."  
  
"I will help you, but I've got to find you first! Where ARE you?"  
  
"Genoveva," a second voice was then heard. Geno turned and saw the raven- haired lady.  
  
"You!" She ran towards her. "Was that you?"  
  
"No, Genoveva, it wasn't me. In a certain way, you can say it was one of you. One of the chosen ones."  
  
The voice was heard again, now sounding as if being sent by the wind. "Help me... anybody..."  
  
Geno turned her attention back to the lady. "What do you mean, 'chosen ones'?"  
  
"That," the lady sighed, "is something I can't tell you, because I do not know exactly. I'm not the real me, but a shadow. My real self would know."  
  
"But who's crying?" she asked. "How can I help?"  
  
"Follow me," replied the lady, who then turned and started to run. Actually, it looked like she was sliding, since her feet didn't seem to touch the ground. Geno tried to follow, but couldn't move quickly enough. The trees were attacking her viciously with their branches, and soon her arms and face were bleeding. But she kept running. As she looked at her hands, silver feathers seemed to spurt from the cuts.  
  
Then the two of them stopped in front of a large block of golden stone. Enormous snakes surrounded the block, in what appeared to be an attempt to crack it open. The screams of pain seemed to increase with each blow.  
  
"She's in there," the lady said, "and only you can find a way to get her out."  
  
Geno was surprised. "How can -" she began, but was instantly interrupted by a piercing scream.  
  
"Aaaaaaaagggghhhh!" Waking up with a start, Geno got out of bed and searched for the source of the scream. It was Irina, who was shaking in fright. At her feet was a round, furry thing, which was trembling as much as she was.  
  
"What's going on?" Dulce mumbled as she got out of bed.  
  
"It... it attacked me! I... I vos sleeping and felt somefink vet touching my nose!"  
  
The other two took a careful look at the frightened thing. It looked like a custard-colored furball, and was just as terrified as its "victim".  
  
"It's a Puffskein," Geno smiled. "It's perfectly harmless."  
  
"But it attacked me!"  
  
"It was probably searching for bogies," Dulce laughed. "Is your nose clean?"  
  
"V... Vot?" Irina was surprised.  
  
Dulce grabbed the Puffskein and hugged it. The furball began to purr happily. "See? It wouldn't hurt a fly! There, there," she said, in mock motherly tone, "the mean girl won't hurt you."  
  
"I wonder where it came from?" said Geno.  
  
"That shouldn't be too difficult to find out," Dulce said without hesitation. "Have you ever heard the saying, 'a pet resembles its master'?"  
  
The other two glanced at each other.  
  
"Half-Pint," they said in unison.  
  
***  
  
"Half-Pint! Hey, you stupid prat, wake up!"  
  
The three girls had just entered the boys' dormitory. Since only two beds occupied it, it looked larger than it actually was. Even though it was the students' first night there and everything was still rather clean, Half- Pint's half of the room already had some things dumped carelessly on the floor, and the door knob was adorned with a sock.  
  
"What the..." mumbled Aenor, getting up. "What the hell are you three doing here?"  
  
"Returning this," Dulce said, pointing at the Puffskein curling in Geno's arms.  
  
"Oh, that," said Aenor. "She belongs to the midget. I put her out because I couldn't stand the noise." He then looked at the girls and smiled. "You know, I'm still too young to be entertaining female guests in my bedroom. Pink is really your color, blondie. And those fluffy bunnies... lovely."  
  
Irina blushed and hid behind the other two, trying to hide her bathrobe and slippers.  
  
"Just leave her alone," Geno said. She then nodded towards the other bed, where Half-Pint was still as quiet as if nothing was happening. "What's wrong with him?"  
  
"He... er... sleeps like a log. It would take an earthquake to wake him up."  
  
"You know, if I hadn't seen him bounce like a Bludger yesterday, I might have believed you," said Dulce. "You're not convincing me."  
  
And with this, she moved towards the bed and grabbed the sheets.  
  
"Wake up, you moron!"  
  
But still, Half-Pint didn't move. His eyes were open and were now looking pleadingly at the girls.  
  
"Somefink's wrong vit him," whispered Irina. "Vat does he haff?"  
  
"Full Body-Bind." Geno turned at Aenor. "Let me guess, your work, right?"  
  
"I wanted some peace," said Aenor. "Is that too much to ask?"  
  
"Well, undo it, or we'll tell Professor Ventura."  
  
"You wouldn't, would you, Genoveva?"  
  
"I might."  
  
"Oh come on, you don't look like the ratting type."  
  
"Just try me. Now undo the curse."  
  
"No."  
  
"All right," Dulce said, showing her wand, "I'll do it myself, then." She then pointed it at Half-Pint and said, "Finite incantatem."  
  
With this, Half-Pint started moving again.  
  
"Matilde!" he said, jumping towards Geno and the Puffskein. "I thought he had thrown you out the window!"  
  
"Well, looks like he didn't," said Geno. Half-Pint took the furball from her hands, and it started to lick his cheek.  
  
"Why did you do this?" Dulce asked Aenor.  
  
"Well, the midget and his stupid pet are a nuisance I could just live without. I wanted to get some sleep, so I had to get them out of the way."  
  
"That's the most -" Geno began.  
  
"Ahem," a voice behind them said. It was Professor Ventura. "If you don't mind, children, I would appreciate it if you could all return to your proper beds and go back to sleep."  
  
The girls obeyed, and returned to their dormitories. Dulce, however, was wondering about the short time that took for Professor Ventura to reach the dormitories. "And how on earth did she hear us? We weren't making that much noise!"  
  
Geno was unable to answer.  
  
***  
  
The next morning during breakfast, Professor Ventura handed out timetables to her students. "I hope you'll soon learn them by heart," she said, "as well as your classes."  
  
"Yeah, right," mumbled Aenor when she was out of earshot. "Let's see... first class today is Charms. I heard that old prune-face is teaching it. Prepare to be bored out of your wits."  
  
"Don't be such a pain," snapped Geno. For some reason, Aenor's comments irritated her, something that was rather unusual considering her quiet disposition.  
  
"I think History of Magic is going to be the one that's really boring," said Half-Pint. "My dad hated studying it when he was at school."  
  
"Hey guys," a voice behind them said. It was Magda, who was accompanied by a skinny boy from her House. "This is Tulio," she introduced. The boy smiled and nodded.  
  
"What's your timetable like?" she asked. "I think we'll have Charms together in a moment, right?"  
  
"Yeah," said Geno. Let's see if we have more classes together... this is strange..."  
  
"What's strange?" asked Half-Pint, checking his own timetable.  
  
"We have Special Studies all Saturday."  
  
Dulce's eyes widened as she read it. "Weird."  
  
"Wait a minute," said Magda, grabbing Aenor's timetable ("Hey, how about asking for permission first?").  
  
Tulio compared the two Houses' timetables. "We don't have this. What are 'Special Studies'?"  
  
"Beats me. Guess we'll find that out on Saturday. I wonder who's going to teach what," said Half-Pint.  
  
Geno glanced at the teachers' table. Professor Lockhart was talking to a bearded teacher, who scowled and seemed to be restraining himself from strangling him.  
  
"Yeah, the only thing we know is that that one," she said, pointing at Lockhart, "won't be teaching. I wonder what he's doing here."  
  
"Word is," said Tulio, "that he's here to recover from an accident he had this past year when he was at Hogwarts."  
  
"What kind of accident?"  
  
"Well, I don't know if this is really true, but apparently he tried to do a Memory Charm on someone and it backfired."  
  
"And he's here to be treated by old Sampaio," added Magda. "They're trying to see if there's a chance to reverse the Charm without causing damage."  
  
"Looks like it's too late for that," sneered Aenor.  
  
At that moment, the bearded teacher who was enduring Lockhart's conversation turned to the Headmistress, whispered something, and stormed out of the table.  
  
"My, he doesn't look too happy," Aenor smiled.  
  
"What did he say?" asked Half-Pint.  
  
"'If I have to sit with this twit for one more minute, I'll turn him inside- out without magic'."  
  
"What, you can hear him?" wondered Dulce, who had spent the entire meal staring at the teacher and was now looking disappointed about him leaving.  
  
"Oh yeah, I can hear conversations five hundred miles away, and I can see everybody's underwear when I blink in a special way," scowled Aenor. Irina, who was again distancing herself from the conversation, looked at him amazed. "Of course I can't hear him, stupid! But I can read lips."  
  
"He's pretty good at it, you know," said Half-Pint.  
  
"Well, everybody has a gift," Aenor smiled smugly.  
  
"And yours is...?" asked Geno. To her, Aenor's only gift had to be the unusual ability of being an irritating idiot.  
  
"Who was that teacher?" asked Dulce, who was still staring at the door. "What does he teach?"  
  
"His name's Coleraine," said Tulio, "and he's Head of Ceuta. No idea what his class is, though."  
  
"He looked creepy," said Geno.  
  
"No he didn't," said Dulce.  
  
"Ooh, got a thing for the teacher, eh?" Aenor joked.  
  
"Of course I don't! I'm just curious. Actually..." she stopped.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Well, this is weird, but... he looks a lot like a friend of my dad's. I was trying to compare them."  
  
"That's your story, is it?" Aenor gave her a very malicious sneer.  
  
"Oh shut up, all right?"  
  
After checking her watch, Irina opened her mouth to speak, but gave up at the last minute. The others realized what she meant, however, so all seven got up and joined the other Goa students in the entrance corridor.  
  
"Hey look!" said Dulce. "It's the woman from the globe!"  
  
The raven-haired lady was sitting on a rock inside a picture depicting an African landscape. She smiled and waved at the children.  
  
"What lady?" asked Tulio. "There's nobody there."  
  
"There is," said Aenor. "The lady that greeted us when we picked the globe."  
  
"Nobody greeted me," said Magda.  
  
"Me neither," said Tulio.  
  
The other five eyed each other.  
  
***  
  
The first class was Charms, with professor Sampaio. As soon as the students sat, she began a long speech about wands, their materials and their uses.  
  
"Now, can anyone tell me why a wizard needs a wand?" she asked.  
  
Geno knew the answer, but her fear of speaking in public stopped her from raising her hand. The other Avises remained silent as well, but several Goas (including Magda) raised their hands.  
  
"Yes, you," Professor Sampaio pointed at a boy with a weazily face. "Your name?"  
  
"Crispim Pinto," he said. "Ahem... the wand serves as the primary magical utensil, focusing the magical strength of the wizard or witch using it."  
  
"Very good, Pinto, five points to Goa."  
  
The Goas smiled. Half-Pint crossed his arms in exasperation and muttered something about "swallowing encyclopedias". Then Geno looked out the window, and saw the bird. It looked like a large silver hawk. And, Geno noticed, it was gazing at the Avises, ignoring everyone else.  
  
When the Charms lesson ended, Half-Pint was still complaining about Crispim Pinto's answer.  
  
"'The wand serves as the primary magical utensil.' Did she really expect us to know that on our very first day?"  
  
"Well, the Goas knew," said Geno. "I knew it too, though I don't think I'd say it the same way Pinto did. I'd probably -"  
  
"And you didn't say anything?" asked Half-Pint, shocked. "We could have won those five points!"  
  
"Get real, miniature twit," sniggered Aenor. "There are over twice the number of Goas than there are Avises, and there's even more Ceutas. We won't win, so why bother?"  
  
"That's a loser's excuse," Dulce replied.  
  
"I'm not a loser," he said. "I just don't see the point of wasting energy with the impossible."  
  
Their next lesson, History of Magic, with the Ceutas, was more interesting. Professor Nelia Gabriel didn't ask any questions, just limited her job to telling stories of wizarding events, but was able to make them sound incredibly exciting and interesting. Her tale of the Roman wizard Caius Sertorius, who created a powerful magical army by turning his Muggle soldiers into magical birds of prey, caught everybody's attention, even the Ceutas, who were initially more interested in swapping notes and playing hangman. Irina tried to pay attention to Professor Gabriel's words, but was constantly disturbed by a Ceuta boy sitting behind her, who kept pulling her braids.  
  
At a certain point, Geno's eyes moved toward the window, and again she saw the bird. She nudged Dulce, and whispered, "I saw that bird during Charms. Do you know what it might be?"  
  
"No idea," Dulce replied, "but it looks familiar."  
  
After lunch, they had Herbology, again with the Ceutas, who spent the entire time goofing off. A girl called LaSalete spent most of the lesson throwing handfuls of dirt on another girl's hair. Instead of looking outraged, however, the other girl giggled hysterically. At a certain point, Professor Calixto (who was the man in green overalls they had seen during the sorting) announced that the Ceuta House had the strange feat of having twenty negative points on their very first day.  
  
"They might be more than us," said Dulce, "but they don't really care about winning points, do they?"  
  
Professor Calixto was rather young and very funny, and seemed to treat plants as if they were real people. As he approached the Fireorchid shared by Geno and Irina (Half-Pint had been paired with a Ceuta boy, while Dulce and Aenor were sitting together against their will), he decided to introduced it to the two girls.  
  
"Well, girls, I'd like you to meet Marlene," he said in a mock game show host voice. "She's a Virgo since she was planted last September, and she enjoys sitting in the sun, drinking water and... well, vegetating."  
  
This joke made Irina laugh for the first time, which took Geno by surprise.  
  
"Well, now that you've met Marlene, you've got to study her properties. You've got your book? Good. Now, let's see..." He started browsing through the pages, until he stopped on a description of an ordinary orchid. "Okay, now, without peeking at the answers on the next page, I want the two of you to compare the two of them, and tell me what the main differences are, apart from the fact that Marlene spits fire during pollination."  
  
"Yes sir," the two girls said at the same time, as Professor Calixto turned his attention towards Aenor and Dulce, who were so absorbed in an argument that, without even noticing, they began tearing up the petals of their own Fireorchid ("Please, you two, don't harm Lucrecia! You'll traumatize her!").  
  
As they left the greenhouse, Geno stopped abruptly.  
  
"What -" started Aenor.  
  
"Shh. Listen," she said. And, sure enough, all five started to hear a strange noise.  
  
"This way," said Half-Pint, and the five of them advanced towards a large concentration of trees near the slope. They hid behind a rock and began to quarrel over who would peek.  
  
"Geno, you go."  
  
"Me? No way! Let Aenor do it."  
  
"Oh no, ladies first..."  
  
"Tell you vat," said Irina with an unusual exasperation, "vhy don't ve all look at the same time?"  
  
And, on the count of three, they lifted their heads, expecting some strange creature. Instead, they saw Professor Coleraine, who was practicing fencing against another sword, which seemed to be pulled by invisible strings.  
  
"He's probably using a spell to animate it," Half-Pint whispered before being nudged by Geno. She wasn't sure, but she expected that they might get punished if they were discovered spying on a teacher, even if it had been by accident.  
  
"You know, he's good," said Aenor. "I reckon he probably would have managed to kill the other guy if there was one."  
  
Suddenly, he stopped, and the sword fell to the floor. Geno's heart leaped in fear.  
  
"Oh, it's you, is it?" he asked. "What do you want?"  
  
"Well, we're-" Aenor was about to begin, but Professor Coleraine kept talking.  
  
"As you can see, I'm practicing, and I hate to be disturbed unless it's something very important."  
  
Dulce looked around and, with her mouth open, pointed upwards. The Professor wasn't looking at them. He hadn't even noticed their presence. Instead, he seemed to be talking to someone sitting up in a tree.  
  
Geno looked up, and couldn't restrain a gasp. Sitting on a branch was the big silver bird. 


	3. Special Studies

Rebirth  
  
Chapter 3: Special Studies  
  
"Look, I've got things to do. What do you want?" continued Professor Coleraine, staring at the bird, which flew from the tree branch to his feet. It was then that the Avises, still hiding behind the rock, noticed that it was holding a bit of parchment in its beak.  
  
Professor Coleraine grabbed the parchment and unfolded it. Geno noticed that it was a newspaper cutting. Coleraine's face went pale.  
  
"What... when..." He was absolutely perplexed. "Was he a...?" he asked the bird, which moved its head as if nodding.  
  
"Good Lord," he whispered. Then, in a sudden fit of rage, he threw the sword into the air. It flew over the Avises' heads and buried its blade in a tree trunk behind them.  
  
The shock of this was so great that they were later unable to explain to themselves how they had managed to run away before he advanced to regain the sword.  
  
***  
  
The fat librarian was sleeping when Dulce burst in.  
  
"Excuse me, miss, can you tell me where I can find books on ornithology, please?"  
  
Still dumbstruck, the librarian pointed at a bookshelf to their right.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"What are you looking for, Dulce?" Geno asked, as Dulce handed her books bearing the titles: Magical Birds of the Peninsula, The Great List of Birds and Magical and Non-Magical Winged Creatures.  
  
"I want to know what that creepy birds is," she said. "I know I've seen it somewhere before."  
  
"And how are you going to look for it?" Aenor asked disdainfully. "It would be easier to find a needle in a haystack. Besides, I know we've just met, but you don't look like the bookworm type."  
  
"I'm not. But I've got this," she said, removing from her bag what looked like a long copper needle.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"It's a Searcher. The greatest help a cheater like me can have," she said, with a triumphant smile.  
  
"I've heard of them," said Half-Pint. "You tell them what you need to research and they'll do it for you."  
  
"That's right." And she placed the tip of the Searcher next to her lips and whispered, "Silver bird. Go!"  
  
In a flash, the Searcher released itself from Dulce's hand and entered inside a book, its tip going from page to page. In five minutes, all the books had been thoroughly read and opened to the pages that matched Dulce's instructions.  
  
"Let's see..." she said. "Pixian Parrot... no... C'mon, give me a hand here."  
  
"Hmm..." said Geno, picking up another book. "No, that's not it either."  
  
Half-Pint and Aenor began to search through the books as well. Irina glanced at a page and took a step backwards, looking discouraged.  
  
"Nah, this one's too small."  
  
"And this one looks like a platypus with antennae."  
  
"Really? Let me see."  
  
"Hey, stop fooling around."  
  
"Oh, I'm so sorry, your highness."  
  
"Ah, shut up."  
  
After the more specific books on birds, the Avises moved to those dealing more generally with all kind of magical creatures, but it was no use. It appeared that the strange bird didn't exist in any records.  
  
***  
  
The rest of their classes that week were more or less uneventful. Professor Cicuta, the Potions teacher, was a blond witch with a sweet voice and a shy, nervous manner, who was obviously delighted to have such a small class.  
  
Flying was taught by Professor Ventura, who, with her long, uncomfortable- looking robes, her large floppy hat and the incredible amount of bracelets on both wrists, looked like the last witch you would imagine riding a broom.  
  
"Ironic, isn't it?" Aenor commented after the lesson. "We're not enough to form a Quidditch team, but the head of our house is the flying teacher."  
  
Transfiguration was taught by the very fat and very cheerful Professor Raimundo, who had the amazing ability of using laughter as a mnemonic tool. This, however, didn't seem to work on everybody. Magda would later tell the Avises (who had Transfiguration by themselves) that every time Professor Raimundo told a joke during their class, the Goas would burst out laughing while the Ceutas stared at him blankly.  
  
The first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, however, was not so pleasant. The teacher was none other than Professor Coleraine. He taught in a very interesting way and was able to catch everybody's attention, but he forgave nothing. He took two points from Geno when she accidentally dropped her quill, and kept referring to the Avises as "the elitist house".  
  
However, his unpleasantness didn't apply strictly to them. In fact, he was subtracting points and sternly punishing the Ceutas, who were attempting to make as much noise as they did in the previous lessons they had had with the Avises.  
  
"Just because I'm the head of your house, don't expect special treatment," he told them, after he gave detention to LaSalete Figueiredo (the self- proclaimed Ceuta leader).  
  
After this punishment, the Ceutas finally calmed down. Geno overheard the boy sitting behind her incessantly mumbling "bastard".  
  
Then, Coleraine handed them a test. "I want you to do this so I can evaluate your knowledge," he said.  
  
Geno looked at the questions with amazement and shock. How on earth was she supposed to know these things on her very first lesson? The same doubt must have occurred to Irina, who burst out crying.  
  
"What's the matter, Petrova?" Coleraine asked with impatience, approaching the girl's table.  
  
"Please sir, I can't..." Irina whispered, before being silenced by another flood of tears.  
  
"I see," he said. For a split second, Geno had the impression that she had seen concern in his eyes.  
  
He returned to his desk and wrote something on a piece of parchment. He then returned to Irina's table.  
  
"Petrova, I want you to go to Professor Sampaio's office and give her this. She'll know what to do with you."  
  
"But sir, I don't know vhere..." Irina began.  
  
"Then ask for directions, for goodness sake!" Coleraine snapped. "Are you Avises that clueless?"  
  
Trembling, Irina left the classroom, the piece of parchment crushed in her hand. The other Avises were looking at Coleraine furiously.  
  
"Get back to work," he said.  
  
They returned to the test. Geno could hear Half-Pint, Aenor and Dulce join the Ceuta boy on his "bastard" mantra. The memory of the teacher's eyes during that split second, however, prevented her from doing the same.  
  
After half an hour, Coleraine collected the tests. Just then, Irina returned, her face extremely red.  
  
"Welcome back, Petrova. Did Professor Sampaio solve your problem?"  
  
"Yes, sir, zank you," she said, smiling.  
  
"Good. Return to your seat. I don't want to hear you whining again in my class. Is that understood?"  
  
"Yes, sir," she said, sitting down.  
  
"What was that all about?" Dulce asked. "What did she do to you?"  
  
"Not now," Irina replied.  
  
Coleraine returned his attention to the tests.  
  
"These are all wrong," he said, "but I didn't expect it to be any different. At the end of the school year, we'll repeat this test, and we'll compare the results. That way, you'll see how much you've learned."  
  
***  
  
"Are you sure this is the right room?"  
  
"Must be."  
  
They went inside the classroom where they were going to have Special Studies and were surprised to find that it was as large as the Great Hall. But what was more surprising was the fact that it was completely empty: no tables, no chairs, nothing. The walls were bare, except for what looked like an empty frame, a blackboard right below it, and a second door on the opposite side.  
  
"What the -" cursed Aenor, pointing up. The ceiling was the only thing that didn't look bare, as it was decorated with about twenty silver birds, just like the one that had been following them all week.  
  
"I vant to get out of here," Irina said, looking terrified.  
  
"Yeah, I'm sick and tired of this. Everywhere we turn, we see that creepy bird," said Half-Pint, retreating to leave. "Let's go and tell Ventura - OUCH!"  
  
"We'll tell her ouch?" said Dulce.  
  
"Bumping into doors again, pocket wizard?" sneered Aenor.  
  
"The door was open. I don't get it."  
  
"Ah, leave it out, Half-Pint, we must have closed it without realizing."  
  
"No, he's right, we left the door open," said Geno, moving towards the doorknob and failing to open it. "It's locked."  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's locked. Someone must have locked us up."  
  
"Why? That's absurd!"  
  
"You've got another idea?"  
  
"There's something on the blackboard," Half-Pint pointed out.  
  
And, indeed, written in red chalk was,  
  
USE THE SECOND DOOR  
  
LEFT AND RIGHT AND RIGHT AGAIN  
  
THEN UP AND DOWN  
  
FOLLOW THE LIGHT  
  
IF YOU FIND ME, THEN YOU ARE WORTHY OF BECOMING MY STUDENTS  
  
"What the hell is that?" asked Aenor.  
  
"What do you think, dummy?" said Dulce. "Those are instructions."  
  
"Yeah, but instructions for what?"  
  
"To find our mystery teacher, of course. 'If you find me, you are worthy of becoming my students'. It's a test."  
  
"First that bastard Professor Cholera, and now the 'mystery teacher'! Well, stuff the tests! I don't even know what 'special studies' we are supposed to take. And why us?"  
  
"What's the matter, Aenor? Scared?" asked Half-Pint, a malicious twinkle in his eyes.  
  
"Of course not," he lied. "But I smell a rat."  
  
Half-Pint raised his arm and smelled his armpit. "No, that's me. I think we better get going."  
  
"Ve haff to, don't ve?" asked Irina.  
  
"Okay, let's see if I can remember this," Geno said, reading the writing on the blackboard again and trying to memorize it. "Left, right, right, up, down, light. Left, right, right, up, down, light..."  
  
"Let's go."  
  
They opened the door and saw a long corridor, its walls as bare as the classroom's. At the end were three doors, and above them another empty frame.  
  
"Now let's see, we've got to go through the left one, right?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
And they ran towards it. However...  
  
"It's locked."  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's locked."  
  
"Rats."  
  
"Again?"  
  
"This is getting way too repetitive..."  
  
"Now vat do ve do?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"I've got an idea," said Half-Pint. He pointed his wand at the keyhole. "Alohomora."  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
"Hey, don't look at me like that," he told the others. "I tried."  
  
Aenor, who was leaning against the wall, sighed.  
  
"If only we could say something like 'Lily of the Valley' or som-"  
  
He was unable to finish his sentence, as he vanished through the wall. Immediately, the others heard him cry, "OUCH!"  
  
"Aenor?" asked Dulce. "Hey, idiot boy? Where are you?"  
  
"Whoa, you've got to see this!" his voice was heard from the other side of the wall.  
  
"What happened to him?" wondered Half-Pint.  
  
"I know!" Irina snapped her fingers. "It's a passagevay, like the Common Room mirror. He said out passvord, and the vall opened."  
  
She touched the wall where Aenor had vanished and said, "Lily of the Valley!"  
  
Her hand went inside the wall, as if it was made of mist.  
  
"Er... guys?" Aenor's voice was again heard. "I really, really think you should see this."  
  
As, one by one, they crossed the wall, they realized why he was so excited. The vision that welcomed them was indescribable. A very small room, with one of the walls covered in red squares.  
  
"I accidentally touched one of these things when I fell, and it didn't like it," Aenor said after the others had all entered, showing a swollen hand. "Any ideas?"  
  
"Well, let's try poking it with my wand," Dulce suggested. "If anything goes wrong, I'll just have to get a new one."  
  
"If we get out of here," said Aenor.  
  
"Oh shut up, Mr. Optimistic."  
  
And Dulce touched one of the squares with the tip of her wand, and jumped back in fear and surprise when the square, with a sudden blast of light, changed color, turning into a pale blue.  
  
"Now what?" asked Half-Pint.  
  
"Let's try another one," said Dulce, touching another square. This one turned white, before what looked like a small lighting bolt fell from the roof, scaring everybody.  
  
"What... was that?" panted Geno, absolutely terrified.  
  
"I think I've got a pretty good idea," said Aenor, recovering from the surprise and returning to his usual sneering smile. "Have you girls ever played a memory puzzle?"  
  
"Memory?" Half-Pint was slowly realizing what Aenor was thinking. "Of course! Match the squares with the same color!"  
  
"You mean this is a puzzle?" asked Geno.  
  
"That's right, and it looks like we'll have to solve it if we want to get out of here."  
  
"This is stupid," grumbled Dulce. "Why all this? What's the problem of an absolutely ordinary classroom?"  
  
"There are loads of things I don't like about this," said Geno, "but now we're trapped, and we have no choice but do this."  
  
"Okay, ready?"  
  
"Yeah," said Aenor. He turned to Geno and Half-Pint. "You two, start over there. You, carrot girl," he said to Dulce, "over there. And you, blondie," he then said to Irina, "we'll start over here."  
  
"Hey, who made you leader?" Dulce complained.  
  
"I did. Now, are we going to start this, or are we going to argue and delay?"  
  
The others incoherently mumbled something that didn't sound too pleasant, but they all began.  
  
"Okay, I've got a purple one here. Has anybody else found one?"  
  
"Red-purple, blue-purple, or purple-purple?"  
  
"Who cares? It's purple!"  
  
"What the hell is this color?"  
  
"It's flicts."  
  
"Flicts? You're joking."  
  
"I've got green with purple dots. Weird."  
  
"Lightning. Duck!"  
  
After what seemed like two hours, only two squares remained. After they were revealed to be bottle-green, the squares began to glow brightly, and the Avises had to avert their eyes. When they managed to look again, they found two doors where the squares used to be.  
  
"So, it's the right door, isn't it?"  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
The next room was almost identical to its predecessor, except there weren't any squares on the walls (the two doors were already there) and the fact that, sitting in a corner, was an enormous creature with the body of a lion and the head of a woman. Her almond-shaped eyes stared impassively at them.  
  
Half-Pint gasped.  
  
"That's a... that's a... ohmygosh... that's a..."  
  
"A Sphinx," the creature said, in a deep, hoarse voice. "Welcome, children. I'm glad to see you were lucky enough to find the invisible door, and smart enough to solve the puzzle."  
  
None of them spoke; they were too terrified to do anything. Even Muggles knew about Sphinxes (though they believed them to only be a legend) and their fierceness.  
  
"Now," the Sphinx continued, "to pass me, each of you will have to answer a riddle."  
  
"Are you going to... eat us if we fail?" Dulce finally managed to speak.  
  
"Eat you? Oh no, I'm not allowed to. If one of you fails, he or she will be sent back -"  
  
"Sounds good to me," said Aenor.  
  
"- with twenty points removed from your house."  
  
They all fell silent again. The Sphinx smiled and approached Irina.  
  
"I was informed that one of you is from Ukraine. Is that you?"  
  
"Y-yes," Irina stuttered.  
  
"Then I have a special riddle for you." And she began to speak in Irina's native language. The others stared blankly at this. Aenor frowned, as if that would have helped him to understand.  
  
Irina fell silent for a short moment. Then, she gave a huge smile and replied something that was as undecipherable to the others as the riddle had been.  
  
"You can go," the Sphinx said, nodding towards the two doors behind her.  
  
"I'll vait for the others," Irina said.  
  
"As you wish." The Sphinx then turned to Half-Pint. "You. What we caught, we threw away: what we could not catch, we kept."  
  
"You're joking," he replied.  
  
"That's your riddle. Answer it."  
  
"Okay... okay, let's see... Concentrate..." Suddenly, he stopped, his eyes wide open, and began to jump up and down, incessantly, as if struck by one of the lightning bolts from the other room. "I know! I know! Fleas!"  
  
"Fleas? You're kidding!" said Aenor.  
  
"He's correct," the Sphinx said. "You're free to go. Now you," she then turned to Aenor. "What is black and white and red all over?"  
  
Aenor sneered. "That's the hardest you can do? That's not a riddle, that's a joke! It's a newspaper."  
  
"Correct. And you," now it was Dulce's time. "My first is a vehicle, my second is a favorite, and my whole is in most drawing rooms."  
  
"W-what?" Dulce was completely puzzled. "You don't mean that..."  
  
"I do. You'll have to answer this, or twenty points will be removed from your house."  
  
"Oh." She was extremely pale. "Can I think about it for a bit?"  
  
"Take your time."  
  
She then went to a corner and began muttering to herself. It took more than ten minutes before she returned to the Sphinx.  
  
"I'm not sure if this is right," she said, "but I've removed all other possibilities. Here goes nothing... Is it... a carpet?"  
  
The Sphinx looked at her in silence for a long time. It was as if she was highly amused with the girl's embarrassment. Finally, she relented and said, "Yes, it is a carpet. You are free to go."  
  
Dulce sighed with relief and joined the others.  
  
Now, the only one left was Geno.  
  
"Here's your riddle: Two legs enter carrying one leg, place one leg on three legs. Exit two legs, enter four legs. Exit five legs, enter two legs. Grabs three legs, throws to four legs, and enters with one leg again."  
  
The others gasped, but Geno began to laugh with relief. She knew the answer even before the Sphinx had finished talking; her father used to tell her that when she was little. She turned to the Sphinx.  
  
"'Two legs' is a woman, 'one leg' is a leg of lamb, 'three legs' is a stool, and 'four legs' is a dog. The woman enters with the leg of lamb and places it on the stool. The dog enters and grabs the leg of lamb. The woman returns and throws the stool at the dog, regaining the leg."  
  
The Sphinx smiled. "You have all answered correctly. You are free to go."  
  
Half-Pint turned to Geno. "How did you know that?"  
  
"My dad used to tell me that."  
  
"Smart man."  
  
"Yes, he was," she said, with a faint smile.  
  
"Let's go," said Dulce. "Right door, right?"  
  
"Right."  
  
"Good luck," said the Sphinx, as they opened the door.  
  
"Is the rest going to be so difficult?" asked Irina.  
  
"Difficult? Oh, no, it will be quite easy," the Sphinx said with a smile, "but it will give you one hell of a headache."  
  
They looked through the door and saw a long, narrow staircase.  
  
"I see what you mean," said Dulce. "This is the 'up' bit, right?"  
  
"My, you are smart," joked the Sphinx.  
  
The five Avises waved goodbye and crossed the door towards the stairs. Soon they realized what the Sphinx had meant by "a headache" as, after a few steps, an irritating, shrill sound began to pierce their ears, growing increasingly higher and louder as they advanced.  
  
"I can't take this, I really can't take this!" complained Aenor.  
  
"Shut up and hum to yourself!" Dulce suggested.  
  
"No way, it will make things worse."  
  
"Oh, shut up and walk. You're giving me a headache."  
  
After a very long time, the staircase began to get covered in thick mist, and it became increasingly difficult to see where they were going. Soon, they could no longer see each other.  
  
"Hey, Geno, where are you?"  
  
"Half-Pint?"  
  
"No, it's Dulce."  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"Agh! That's my nose!"  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"Well, stop bickering and carry ooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!" Half-Pint's voice faded.  
  
"Half-Pint?"  
  
"Where are yooooooooouuuuuuuuu?"  
  
Geno had just fallen through a ramp that the mist had preventing them from seeing. So this is "down," she thought, as she landed, rather painfully, on the cold floor, with Irina landing on top of her a few seconds later.  
  
"Zorry," she said, getting up. "Are you all right?"  
  
"Yeah," Geno said, right before being knocked down to the floor again by the arrival of Aenor.  
  
"Where are we supposed to go now?" Dulce asked, after joining the others and falling even more awkwardly.  
  
"The message on the blackboard said 'follow the light'," Geno repeated, pointing towards a faded light at the end of the room.  
  
"This looks like that 'light at the end of the tunnel' thing," Aenor commented.  
  
The five of them started walking again. When they reached the light, they realized that it came from a door.  
  
"Well, let's open it," said Geno.  
  
And they entered into an absolutely ordinary classroom, with desks, chairs, a blackboard...  
  
"Good morning," said a female voice.  
  
They turned and saw a female, gray-haired centaur.  
  
"I'm glad to see you made it. Welcome to Special Studies. I'm your teacher." 


End file.
